Saturday, May 12, 2012 5:37:42 PM@DuckBoy87 "Lemon, car crash fatalities to drinking age is not a strong correlation." ------------------- the statistic correlates fatalities to population at driving age, which is a pretty decent indicator across countries.

ideally, you'd need (a) population who has a license / is actually driving for better accuracy, but i think the percentage of adults with a license are similar in the u.s. and in europe.

(b) a breakup by age would also be more instructive in order to see what the fatality rates are for young adults, but i don't have them. help me out if you can!

you're of course right, there is a lot of senseless under-age drinking going on in europe. i do suspect, though, that on the whole, it makes a difference that (a) you can drink if you want to (= less thrill of trying something forbidden), and (b) you don't have to hide it from your parents, making parental supervision easier. of course stupidity is always close around the corner ...

perhaps we should try the middle eastern approach, no drinking whatsoever! (still some consumption of alcohol, of course, but much, much less than in Western countries.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 5:26:49 PM"Lemon, wtf are you talking about with the getting a drivers license? and what makes you an expert on getting a license nowadays? you are listed as being near 50 years old... As someone who recently got their license (like..4 years ago?), its no easier now than it was 30 years ago. likely harder for that matter since laws are stricter and there are more of them" --------------------- well, in most countries other than the us you actually have to take A LOT of classes from an approved driving instructor in order to be let loose on the public, requiring about half a year (and USD 1000-2000) for the classes / instructions / tests.

what's your theory why fatalities are so high in the u.s. compared to other countries?

Saturday, May 12, 2012 10:42:52 AMHow does a picture of 4 hot little skanks in handcuffs from a MOVIE turn into some serious discussion on drunk driving and how you get a drivers license? drat all of you wet blankets.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 7:54:13 AMLemon, car crash fatalities to drinking age is not a strong correlation. That's like saying higher ice cream sales causes your chances of drowning are higher. In summertime, people buy more ice cream and they go to pools and beaches more often, so they have to be related, right?

No, a better correlation would be amount of roadways and drivers to fatal crashes. California has the highest amount of crashes. Why? Because they simply have more people.

If you want a more conclusive hypothesis, compare a single European country to a US state that has a similar size and population, or to two US states, one of similar size and one of similar population.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 7:48:48 AMYou'd fit right in with the cops... you got the small asian dick already, you act like a big dick, and I am sure you got a douche hat and pedophile mustache going already.

And every state I have lived in requires 1 year of driving on a permit before taking a test for a license... and it costs more than $17.05

"perhaps the higher drinking age in the u.s. prevents youngsters from learning how to drink responsibly, since they can't drink in the open??"

In the Netherlands the age to purchase alcoholic beverages is 16. According to your hypothesis they should have less problems with drunk minors. The fact is that hospitals see more and more young kids coming in that are in a coma after binge drinking. This binge drinking is partly caused by the fact that the kids don't want to pay a lot of money for drinks in a club so they buy alcohol in the supermarket and booze up before entering a club.

On the other hand, refusing people under a certain age alcohol will make it only more interesting to them. It's a nice catch 22. refuse them alcohol and they can't handle it later on in life, give it to them and they'll overdo it.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 7:21:33 AMLemon, wtf are you talking about with the getting a drivers license? and what makes you an expert on getting a license nowadays? you are listed as being near 50 years old... As someone who recently got their license (like..4 years ago?), its no easier now than it was 30 years ago. likely harder for that matter since laws are stricter and there are more of them

Saturday, May 12, 2012 6:47:52 AM"davymid: IF it wasn't for the tragic history of teens getting drunk and ruining their lives in countless ways, perhaps the legal age for drinking would still be 18." ---------------------- interestingly, the u.s. has a much higher rate of road fatalities per capita than most european countries, where the legal drinking age tends to be somewhere between 16-18 (and that also allow a small amount of alcoholic beverages to be consumed before driving.)

perhaps the higher drinking age in the u.s. prevents youngsters from learning how to drink responsibly, since they can't drink in the open??

(of course the fact that you can get your driver's license easily for $ 17.05 after having half-blind granddad 'teach' you driving for a few hours might not be conducive to safe driving either ... )

Saturday, May 12, 2012 2:15:34 AMCrakrJak: Yeah, and in your world, there's evil genes in every child's blood that cause people who touch alcohol before age 21 to have a greatly increased chance of teen pregnancy, DUI, death, etc. These genes magically disappear on your 21st birthday, right?

I'm not for legalization of marijuana any more than I think tobacco should be legal, and I don't think everyone should start drinking at age 16, but teaching responsibility and discipline is the answer, not pretending that kids will learn responsibility and discipline if you wait long enough without doing anything.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 1:39:03 AMdavymid: IF it wasn't for the tragic history of teens getting drunk and ruining their lives in countless ways, perhaps the legal age for drinking would still be 18.

Then we have people like you that want marijuana legalized and the drinking age lowered. Do you have something against young people surviving to the age of being responsible adults ? Because in your world the teen pregnancy rates, the teen death rates, the teen DUI rates and the teen crime rate would rise dramatically.

Friday, May 11, 2012 11:01:08 PMI'm a killjoy, i know, but it is definitely from a movie. Selena Gomez and a handful of other similar actresses are doing a movie called Spring Breakers, which this is surely from. Don't believe me, this link leads to another pic of Selena and one of the other girls after this scene...

Friday, May 11, 2012 10:05:49 PMI doubt this is from a movie, google image search can't replicate it and it would be on fansites and movie blogs. It's probably just a few more ashamed spring breakers coming off their buzz.